Phytofabrication of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles From Commelina forskaolii and Their Structural and Antioxidant, Antibacterial, and Anticancer Properties

ABSTRACT

Advancements in nanotechnology use medicinal plants to produce nanoparticles and develop highly effective, novel particles that eliminate the hazardous substances generated by conventional production methods. This study pertains to the green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO‐NPs) using leaves of Commelina forskaolii via the hydrothermal process, along with the structural characterization of the particles via UV, XRD, SEM, EDS, and FT‐IR techniques. The absorbance peak was observed at 310 nm, with a size of 11.34 nm, as calculated using Scherrer's formula from the XRD data. The study noted that Cf‐ZnO‐NPs possessed a maximum antioxidant scavenging activity of 64.06% with an IC ₅₀ of 1.6 mg mL ⁻¹ . Besides, the antibacterial studies with Cf‐ZnO‐NPs indicated that both Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria were susceptible to their treatment, with MICs ranging from 0.2to 0.5 mg among the test bacteria evaluated. In addition, the genotoxic and cytotoxic studies conducted using Allium cepa root tips and MD‐MBA‐31 cells, respectively, treated with Cf‐ZnO‐NPs, revealed that the synthesized particles effectively induced both cell proliferation and cytotoxicity, with IC ₅₀ values of 1.6 and 1.36 mg mL ⁻¹ , respectively. Nonetheless, when the concentration of Cf‐ZnO‐NPs exposure increased, there was a marked escalation in all the biological activities evaluated during the study.